SMC Plans for July
Brian Zipp
19 June, 2020
Dear SMC friends,
As the State of Massachusetts and City of Somerville begin to ease COVID related restrictions, we wanted to let you know where things stand with us.
First, we hope that you and yours are doing as well as possible in these trying times. As for the staff here at the Somerville Media Center, we are thankful to report we are all well and continue to work for this place many of us consider a second home.
As for the Center itself? For those who have been following this, May 30 has come and gone. And you'll note that SMC remains in place. The pandemic has certainly stymied our efforts to find temporary residence to make way for the City's rehabilitation of the old firehouse at Union Square. The City of Somerville acknowledged as much, and the date to vacate 90 Union Square has been pushed to next year.
We thought this would be a good time to inform you about the multi-phased approach of returning to some form of normalcy for SMC. The multi-phased approach looks like this:
Step 1 - SMC is looking to have staff return (tentatively) July 1. This is a light step in that schedules will be altered to stagger when staff are in the building to keep in-person interactions minimized. The stay-at-home advisories have proven that there is much work that can be done remotely by staff and that still remains the safest place for folks to continue working. As such, the current intent is for SMC to continue with and expand support for off-site media making.
Step 2 - In the works are plans to make remote production equipment available to members for the sake of producing content. We are targeting some point in July (stay tuned for updates). SMC will be shifting to remote production kits to keep the reservation process simple, and more importantly, avoid the need to enter the building. Simply make a reservation that will include your pickup and drop-off times and a member of staff will have your kit ready in the "air-lock." SMC will also be making Zoom kits (laptop and usb microphone) available for checkout so you can edit that content you've already accumulated and/or host and record a zoom interview, and add some post production elements for scheduling on SCATV ch 3.
Step 3 - Lastly, we are working to finalize plans for letting members return to the facility. While we have yet to determine a date for this, it's important to update you on our current thinking about what the new normal will look like. A by-appointment-only workflow will require a little more advanced planning and scheduling in order to get the most out of future visits to SMC. Additionally, there are going to be significant capacity reductions to all of the media center's production spaces. Unfortunately, the standard approach to capacity limits in our audio production and video production studios -- cycling guests in and out of the space during the course of a show -- will no longer be an option.
We reiterate that the point of these changes is to ensure the safety of everyone involved. And we encourage you to use these Covid-caused adjustments as just the sort of hurdles that awaken the creative solution-finding, lateral thinking skills that make electronic media making the art-form it is.
Your forbearance and resourcefulness in both doing without SMC equipment and facilities and figuring out how to continue making and providing content for sharing with your community (SMC has really tried to be a resource during this time) is inspiring and appreciated. It looks like SMC is getting through this, and it is with the acknowledgment that it has taken the cooperation of the SMC Board, SMC Staff, and SMC's membership. Thank you. One final note with regard to membership. In recognition for the 100+ days that SMC access has been denied you, it is only right to extend your membership deadline 4 additional months. In other words, every SMC member who went into this mess with us, is coming out of this mess with us as well.
Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation. We look forward to returning to 90 Union Sq. And we look forward to seeing you all again. Be sure to watch for additional communication from us with regards to specific dates and more details.
Sincerely,
Brian A. Zipp Joe Lynch
Executive Director SMC Board President